Tianna White is the new Associated Students president, effective Oct. 29 at 5 p.m. when current President Daevionne Beasley’s resignation became official. 

Tianna White is the new Associated Students president, effective Oct. 29 at 5 p.m. when current President Daevionne Beasley’s resignation became official. Courtesy of Associated Students

White, a fourth-year political science major and current internal vice president (IVP), was sworn in by Beasley during the Associated Students (A.S.) Senate meeting on Wednesday evening.

White will serve as interim president until a special election can be held next quarter to permanently fill Beasley’s vacancy for the duration of the term, which ends midway through Spring Quarter 2021. 

Third-year political science and history of public policy and law double major Catherine Flaherty will fill in as IVP in the meantime and was sworn in by White during Wednesday night’s Senate meeting. A current off-campus senator, Flaherty is White’s first pro-tempore which, according to A.S. Legal Code, means that she serves as IVP when the position is vacant. 

Flaherty is also currently running for an open spot on the director board of the Isla Vista Community Services District (I.V. CSD). She has stated she does not plan to resign from her senate position if elected to the I.V. CSD. 

After White and Flaherty were sworn in, Beasley told senators in a speech during public forum that he wanted an end to the “fighting back and forth” he saw in Senate meetings throughout the process to recall him from office. 

“The people here who say they care about minorities and marginalized people willingly sat and participated in anti-blackness and ignored my right to due process,” Beasley said. “I understand how sensitive these topics were, but it seemed that … until it became a spectacle, no one cared about what the truth or what the issues were; they just wanted to see me either step down or suffer.” 

“I’ll be a private citizen tomorrow after 5 p.m. I want to be able to live my private life without continuously seeing all the awful things that each and every one of you say about me every day,” he continued, before leaving the Zoom meeting. 

Katherine Swartz

Katherine Swartz was the 2021-22 editor in chief of the Daily Nexus. Previously, Swartz was the University News Editor for the 2020-2021 school year. She can be reached at kswartz@dailynexus.com or news@dailynexus.com, and on twitter @kv_swartz.